Sprout Magazine

Starcraft II Arcade Reviews: Squadron Tower Defense

Starcraft II is the sequel to the incredibly popular Starcraft. It was released in 2010. It is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game that is one of the best known in the world. What a lot of people who don’t play the game don’t know is that it contains an arcade area where people can create their own games and put them up for others to play. This of course, leads to a lot of interesting games and a lot of fun. One of the most popular games lately has been Squadron Tower Defense.

Squadron Tower Defense is, as I’m sure you guessed, a tower defense game. It is played 4v4 with each player holding a lane, each of which leads to the security system in the middle. If the security system is destroyed, the team loses. Before each wave you will have some time to build towers. These will defend against the creatures that come and attack you, which are known as creeps. After you destroy all of the creeps, your remaining towers will warp to the middle in front of the security system to fight any creeps that got through other player’s defenses.

When it comes to defenses, there are around 8 builders you can choose from, along with the ability to create custom builders. Each builder has a special ability as well as six towers. These are arranged into tiers, with sixth being the best, and first being the worst. With so many towers, there is a lot of variety to the play styles available, and there is something for everyone.

You don’t want to let creeps through, obviously. When you do, not only are you missing out on resources from the kills, but your worker movement will also be slowed for a time, hurting your economy. Aside from building towers and defending against waves, you will also be managing workers, who will gather gas for you. You then use this to create “sends”. These will attack an opponent on the next wave along with whatever creeps are coming in. The best part about sends though, is that each type of send gives you a certain amount of income, which you will receive every round thereafter.

The key to playing Squadron Tower Defense is to balance your economy and towers. If you spend too many resources on towers then you won’t be getting much income and you won’t be able to keep up with the waves later in the game, as well as the other players. If you spend too much on your economy then you won’t be able to destroy all of the creeps that come at you and you will miss out on a lot of resources as well as hurt your team.

I highly recommend checking this game out. It’s extremely addictive and there are always people playing it, so you’re never stuck waiting in the lobby for long. It’s one of the best tower defense games I’ve played, which, believe me, is saying something.